Due to advances in communication services and their far-reaching convenience, services constructed on group communication, such as video conference, Internet protocol-based telephony, or chat room, are increasing gradually in popularity, and meanwhile, during group communication, the retention of records of communication data for future reference or as archives of important data is an important task.
Currently, there exist a number of methods. of recording data required in group communication, e.g., US Patent Publication No. 20020071529, which is directed to a method and system for multimedia network based data acquisition, recording and distribution. An embodiment in the aforesaid US Patent publication discloses an intelligent digital recording system, in which a group is used for call center including the data acquisition, recording and distribution.
However, said publication has its limitations in that: when the source of data comes from multiple devices, there must be a specific central service provider to monitor and to be responsible for the task of recording data. In addition, one drawback of said publication is that, during the process of recording and retrieving communications data, relevant security protection and preparation tasks are not available.
In view of the aforesaid limitations and drawback, said publication cannot be adapted for use in group communication recording tasks where a central service provider is not available, or a security protection function required during data recording and retrieval is missing, thereby resulting in possible interception or theft of the recorded data.